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| Padlet brainstorm of an active learning lesson - Image source: personal screenshot |
Making Student Stakeholders
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| Image source: Forbes.com |
If you are my age, there's a good chance your school experiences were very teacher-directed. Teachers taught and students learned. That meant that the teacher stood in front of the class and lectured while writing on the board or an overhead while students listened, took notes and completed lots of drill and practice at their own seats. In case I've accidentally made this sound engaging, I've included a look at students going through a typical lesson this way.
Active learning involves the student in the learning process as an active participant instead of as an audience member. Students get engaged by connecting with the information as stakeholders. They reflect, discuss, and act on in formation. They may self-assess. Teachers become facilitators for active learning.
Supporting Active Learners
This week, two classmates and I looked at an active learning lesson from an elementary classroom on the American Revolution. We looked at and discussed the active learning going on using a great tool for active learning -- Padlet. I included an image of our group's Padlet above and here is a link to view it. Feel free to explore it. The middle school students used two tools, Pic Collage and Audioboom, to demonstrate their understanding of important people, events and terms from the American Revolution. As a special ed professional, I love it when students are given access to multiple ways to express their learning. In my own practice I have found my transition students really enjoy role playing through scenarios to practice new skills and demonstrate understanding. When possible, I like to use a random tool like WheelDecide to choose if students will demonstrate examples or non-examples of the chosen skill or behavior. The students really get into it and this requires them to really think about what the social demands are in a given setting before responding -- something many of them are working on.A Note to Teachers
If you've never used it, active learning can seem monumental to implement in the classroom. I would like to go back to the well on my advice on implementing Blended Learning -- start small. Pick one assignment and offer different modes of response. Give students the chance to work in groups and lead a discussion on a topic and then have them share their findings with the class. If that seems like too much, start with a simple think-pair-share to get students reflecting and participating in the learning process. The increase in student engagement is worth the effort.
Hi Dom,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it’s very important for students to have some choice in how they learn and how they demonstrate their understanding. Every student has a unique mix of learning style, academic ability, interests, etc, which means a “one-size-fits-all” approach is not going to meet all of their needs. For example, my learning style includes preferring to work alone rather than in a group, to watch videos rather than read long textbook chapters, to create a slideshow rather than a poster, just to name a few aspects. When I am forced to “learn” in a particular way that doesn’t fit my learning style/needs, I’m immediately going to struggle with comprehension, be frustrated and less interested, maybe even embarrassed, etc. If possible, it is always best to give students choice in as many ways as possible. You’re right, though, when you say that it’s ok for teachers to take small steps towards this. Giving students a lot of choice can be challenging to manage; it takes practice to feel comfortable and be successful with it, but it’s absolutely worth it in the end.
Thanks for sharing!
- Allison
Allison -
DeleteThanks for the comments. Sometimes I thought I was the only person on the planet who prefers to work alone most of the time! I totally understand the need to be able to work in a group, and that many students even prefer to learn that way. This is why I find it so important to have balance -- it's ok to require group work sometimes, but it's ok to require independent work other times, or to offer the choice!
Dom,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post I thought it was very engaging and informative. I really liked the part where you talked about using Audioboom and Pic Collage. This stood out to me because I have very little experience with either of those. After exploring each, I think they could be super beneficial to things I teach in third grade! For example, I was thinking for our persuasive writing unit I could have the students use Audioboom to make a sales pitch for a toy that I should buy for the classroom. I also really liked the WheelDecide, I think this would be a great non bias way to pick things for students as you eluded to. Finally, I agree with you about active learning. I think it is a lot of fun for students and they are engaged and actively participating in learning rather than simply making a boring poster or presenting a speech. When I think about what I would want to be doing if I were a student, it would be active learning because it can be so fun! Thanks again for bringing these sites to my attention, I cannot wait to incorporate them in the near future.
-Derek
Derek -
DeleteThanks for taking the time to comment. I know there are so many tools out there just waiting to be discovered by teachers in different situations, so I'm glad that a couple of these are "new discoveries" for you! I definitely prefer to be a truly active learner too.
Michael Vincent -
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment and question. I agree that having the students work on something to express their understanding is more active than 100% lecture, I think it is definitely the minimum. Incorporating meaningful collaboration is a huge improvement to the silent seatwork assignments I am imagining from my days in elementary school, and the point at which I feel the work truly becomes active.